I read the news today, oh boy...

Sometimes, when I attend an event and then read about it in the newspapers, I wonder if the journalists were at the same event as me. A case in point is the media reporting of the speech by Culture Secretary Andy Burnham to the PLA Conference on Thursday.

It was the best speech on libraries I've heard from a Secretary of State since Chris Smith ( to whom Andy paid due tribute) - well crafted, intelligent, thoughtful. You can read it for yourself at www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/minister_speeches/5535.aspx but here's a brief synopsis. Libraries are part of the backbone of our cultural life. By giving access to culture and learning, libraries have the power to raise aspirations and transform people's lives. This gives libraries their great public purpose which is delivered by "a hugely creative and talented profession" (I particularly liked that bit). Public library service is statutory and this gives government a "special relationship" with local library provision - and the government "will not flinch" from that statutory commitment to a full and comprehensive service. The challenge we face is to apply our creativity and energy to the modernisation of the library service - to hold true to our core vision and values, and translate that into a public library service for the twenty first century. That's why DCMS is undertaking a "modernisation review" of the service in which our view as library professionals will be crucial. Andy concluded with a splendid rhetorical flourish - libraries should be "full of life, full of joy, full of people."

As well as announcing the modernisation review, Andy gave us three clear messages. Co-location of services will deliver more opportunities for capital funding of library buildings. The partnership between DCMS and DIUS will mean more money for informal adult learning delivered through library services. And the future governance of public libraries will be about setting a "fundamental" standard delivered in the best way to meet local need - "unlocking the potential at local level" with responsibility for delivery at the point of delivery.

I give you all of this in some detail because you're unlikely to get any of this in the national press, if the lengthy phone conversation I had with a broadsheet journalist after the speech is anything to go by. She wanted to know just two things: did the Secretary of State mention books; and what did I think about libraries abandoning the rule of silence? I tried to offer sensible responses - about reader development, and about the intelligent design of library spaces - but I don't think she was interested. To her the story was simple - computers or books, cafes or reading rooms, chatter or silence - and that's what she wanted to write about. You can see the sort of thing she was looking for in the twaddle by Andrew Brown and Lynsey Hanley posted on the Guardian Online yesterday and today.

But - setting the media to one side - the good news is that we appear to have a Secretary of State who "gets it" about public libraries; and a modernisation review which looks likely to tackle the issues about which CILIP has been voicing concern. CILIP colleagues - including myself - will be involved as the review moves forward, and I'll keep you posted. Unlike those journalists, CILIP will be inside the rooms where the review takes place - just as we were (and they weren't)for Andy Burnham's speech.